Beijing Daily Client | Reporter Yang Tianyue
With the stable operation of the macroeconomy, market demand is gradually picking up, which is expected to further release automobile consumer demand. On May 11, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers released data showing that automobile production and sales in April achieved a significant year-on-year increase, and the production and sales of new energy vehicles and automobile exports continued to be good.
In April this year, national automobile production and sales reached 2.133 million units and 2.159 million units, up 76.8% y/y and 82.7% y/y, and down 17.5% m/m, respectively. From January to April this year, vehicle production totaled 8.355 million units, up 8.6% y/y, and sales totaled 8.235 million units, up 7.1% y/y.
According to the analysis of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the sharp year-on-year increase was mainly due to the impact of the low base effect in the same period last year. However, it should also be noted that due to the irrational promotion wave since March, consumers have held coins and waited and watched, automobile consumption is still in the process of slow recovery, and the pressure on business operations is generally large. In addition, due to the complex and volatile international situation, the recovery of the commercial vehicle industry was slower than expected, and production and sales in April decreased compared with March.
In terms of vehicle type, commercial vehicle production totaled 355,000 units, down 18.4% m/m, and sales totaled 348,000 units, down 19.9% m/m, and up 68.8% y/y, up 60.5% y/y. From January to April this year, commercial vehicle production and sales totaled 1.303 million units and 1.286 million units, up 8.8% y/y, but the market recovery was less than expected.
New energy vehicles continued to perform well, and their market share steadily increased. Production and sales reached 640,000 units, down 5% m/m and 2.5% m/m, respectively, up 1.1 times y/y, and their market share reached 29.5%. From January to April this year, the production and sales of new energy vehicles reached 2.291 million units and 2.222 million units, an increase of 42.8% y/y, and its market share reached 27%.
Automobile exports also continued to grow rapidly. Vehicle exports in April were 376,000 units, up 3.3% m/m and 1.7 times y/y. Among them, new energy vehicles exported 100,000 units, an increase of 28.6% month-on-month and 8.4 times year-on-year; from January to April this year, automobile companies exported 1.37 million units, a year-on-year increase of 89.2%. Among them, exports of new energy vehicles were 348,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 1.7 times.
Among the top 10 OEMs in vehicle exports, SAIC Motor exported 82,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 1.6 times, accounting for 21.7% of total exports. BYD's exports grew the most significantly compared to the same period last year, with exports reaching 15,000 units in April, up 15.5 times y/y. Among the top ten countries in automobile exports, Russia, Mexico and Belgium are the top three exporters, while Belgium, Australia and Thailand are the top three exporters of new energy vehicles.
At present, the downward pressure on the mainland economy continues to increase, the economic operation mainly shows a recovery improvement, the demand is still insufficient, the pressure on enterprise operation is generally large, coupled with the complex and changeable international situation, the task of stable growth of the automobile industry is still heavy. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said that effective policies to stabilize and expand automobile consumption need to continue to be boosted, fully promote the release of automobile consumption potential, and promote the stable operation of the automotive industry.
Image source: CAAM